So far, the first two Minnesotans to be thrown a word in the preliminary round have spelled correctly during the national telecast on ESPN3.

If a speller dabs, drink.

Bee officials introduced an app called Buzzworthy two years ago to let fans compete with friends.

But the app is not available this year. The family arrived in the D.C. area this weekend.

While Minnesotans often boast about the beauty of our lake-dappled state, we apparently have trouble spelling the word "beautiful". Lindsay Shelton-Gross is at left.

"If you think about it though, that's. wow", he said.

She was the reigning champion of her school and has been nicknamed the "Queen Bee". "If it didn't happen, then I would say that next year I will improve more upon my vocabulary and then I would make it back", Shaheer said.

During the assembly, my kids told me, they sang "Can't Stop the Spelling" to the tune of Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling" and "ABC", the Jackson 5 classic.